Sir John Franklin Set – Friendly Encounter Ref. 1ARAP.M08A.C120P

The three watches in the John Franklin Set are the latest
additions to the Instrument Collection and take as their subject
three famous paintings from London's National Maritime Museum. The
timepieces, which feature a true-beat seconds and off-centre hour
and minute hands, each depict an episode in the life of HMS Erebus
and HMS Terror, vessels that eventually perished in the course of
Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition to discover the North-West
Passage in the mid-19th century.

To the British government, the North-West Passage had long been
an obsession. It represented a shorter route to the Indies that
would eliminate the need for rounding Cape Horn and avoid meetings
with the hostile fleets of other European nations. And although its
mythical status as a faster route to the East had evaporated by the
mid-19th century, it was still one of the last uncharted coastlines
of the world. In 1845, Sir John Franklin set out on his third
expedition to the area in HMS Erebus, accompanied by HMS Terror.
After being sighted by whalers in mid-summer, the two ships
disappeared. Over forty expeditions set out to locate and rescue
them but found only remnants of the expedition.

The mother-of-pearl dials of the three models in the Sir John
Franklin Set each feature an exquisite, hand-finished miniature
reproduction of an original oil painting owned by the National
Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. The first, "Friendly
Encounter", shows HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in New Zealand in about
1840, when the crew had a series of peaceful meetings with the
local Maori population. In the second, "Antarctic Adventure", we
see the two vessels navigating storm-tossed seas in the
inhospitable environment at the southern tip of the world. The
third, "North-West Passage", depicts HMS Erebus surrounded by
icebergs but still in open water. We know now that both ships were
subsequently trapped by the ice and abandoned by their crews, who
perished. A later expedition established that Sir John Franklin
died on 11 June 1847.

For his third and final expedition to the waters north of
Canada, Sir John Franklin had with him a marine chronometer made by
John Roger Arnold in around 1815 with an eight-day movement, Arnold
spring detent escapement and balance. "This," as Philippe Boven of
Arnold & Son, points out, "turned out to be one the most
intriguing elements in the entire narrative." As later became
clear, it was one of several items recovered during searches for
the Franklin expedition but was not handed over to the authorities.
Only more than a century later did it reappear on the market, when
it was purchased by the Friends of the National Maritime
Museum.

It was immediately clear that Arnold's marine chronometer had
been modified while missing and converted into a travelling
timepiece. It was still mounted in the original bowl, to which a
handle and four feet had been added. The engraved, silver-plated
brass dial showed signs of alteration to the signature around the
name 'Arnold'.

The three references in the Sir John Franklin Set are fitted
with the A&S6103 automatic movement developed, designed and
manufactured in-house at the Arnold & Son workshops in La
Chaux-de-Fonds. The A&S6103 movement is rhodium treated with
classicHaute Horlogeriefinishing that includes hand-chamfered
bridges and polished edges, fine circular-graining andCôtes de
Genève rayonnantes, a brushed and skeletonised rotor and blued
screws. It is housed in an 18-carat rose gold case measuring 44
millimetres in diameter.

The magnificent Sir John Franklin Set of three timepieces is
destined to become a much sought-after collector's item and is a
limited edition of 28 sets.